Blessed by a Monk on a Mountain

Hey y'all



So after being sick for a whole week (again) and finishing level 3, I went on a trek to Doi Suthep Buddhist Temple just outside of Chiang Mai. It was beautiful...it's on top of a mountain over-looking the city. The dogs even enjoy the view!






There were many Thai people there lighting candles and incense and leaving offerings such as these Lotus flowers. We went into a little room and a Monk blessed us with holy water and tied a white rope to our wrist to wear for good luck. Well, monks can't touch women so some other random guy actually tied it to my wrist. I woke up the Monday and felt much better! After I went to the hospital and got some more antibiotics :)



We also visited a small hilltop village. Here's a little boy in the traditional clothing.






This week I started my last week at ITM school. Tonight I went to a Hindu temple and service with my Japanese friends and had some really great Indian food, too. We crammed 6 people in this little "USA" tuk tuk!




Then I saw my first launching of a kohm fai lantern. This weekend will be full of lighting and releasing these white paper lanterns into the sky for Loi Kratong annual festival. It's so beautiful to watch hover then float up into the sky. I can't even imagine how incredible thousands of them will look all at the same time!




The guest house I am staying at is having a Pumpkin Carving party on Friday! (my idea) We are also going to make traditional Kratong rafts to float in the river for the Loi Kratong festival. It is a 3 day festival! We will make rafts out of banana leaves, flowers and candles. Then we will light them and let them go in the river and make a wish/honor the goddess of water. Can't wait!

Sa wa dee ka!

Sorry I haven't updated my blog for a while here's what's been going on:

My friend Rachel and I did end up visiting the Tigers at the Tiger Kingdom that weekend after we finished Level 1. They were so amazing! The website says they are not drugged or anything, they are just used to humans since they have been raised there since birth. We got to see the 3 month old and the full grown. Just stunning creatures!


The next week I finished Level 2 at ITM, YEAH! I had to say good-bye to my good friends Sara from Spain, Bronwyn from South Africa and Shinji from Japan but I hope our paths will cross again someday!





Then I was off to the beach for a relaxing week-long holiday!

It started out a little stressful when I flew to Kuala Lumpur to do a visa run and ended up accidentally spending a whole week's budget on a Five Star Hotel for one night...I had no idea what the currency conversion was. But I quickly made the best of it by spending the evening in the pool, sauna, herbal steam room and jacuzzi :)








The rest of the week was spent on a beach called Ton Sai near Krabi, Thailand. I stayed in a straw bungalow and listened to the ocean at night. The sunsets were incredible and the limestone cliffs were breath-taking.










I spent my time rock climbing, hiking in the jungle, and mostly laying on the beach reading or watching people rock climb. I met some really great people and very friendly locals. It was a fairly quiet spot compared to the beaches in the area which was really nice.














One day I took a boat trip snorkeling and touring some islands. One was Phi Phi Ley where the movie The Beach was filmed. It might have been pretty before the movie was made but now it's just over-run by tourists taking pictures.

Back in Chiang Mai for Level 3!

Well...that's all for now. Thanks for checking in.

Graduated from Level 1

Today I finished my first level of Thai Massage class in Chiang Mai. I'm really enjoying my time here and the school I am attending.
I have met people from all over the world in class and in the guesthouse I am staying at. We've had really great Thai meals, visited beautiful markets and rode tuk tuks all over town! Everyone is so nice and friendly. I've been practicing a little of my Spanish and Italian and learning some Japanese too! Here is a pic of some of us at our friend Hero's Japanese restaurant.

I only know 2 words in Thai though so far....very difficult language. Sa wa dee ka (means hello, good morning, good afternoon, good night and good bye) and korp kun ka (thank you).

The weather in Southeast Asia has been pretty rough lately with Typhoons, Tsunami and floods but in Chiang Mai we have only had a little rain. My prayers and meditations go out to the people who have suffered any loss from the natural disasters of the last few weeks.

I've been a little sick lately so I plan to rest for the weekend. I may decide to ride and elephant and play with some tigers on Sunday, however :)

Sa wa dee ka!

Update from Chiang Mai

Hi All!

So after leaving Bangkok on Monday, I headed to Kanchanaburi and stayed right on the Kwai River for two nights. It was gorgeous! On Tuesday I took a bus to Erewan National Park and hiked to 4 different waterfalls. I felt like I was truly in a tropical paradise as the monkeys were swinging in the trees and the fish were nibbling at my toes!













Wednesday I took a 4 hour bus ride to the ancient city of Ayutthaya. I spent all day walking through some amazing ruins there until I hopped on the overnight train to Chiang Mai.




I've spent the last couple days in bed with a cold but today I went to the pool and had some really good Pad Thai with a couple ladies I met here at the guesthouse.

Tomorrow I start my first week of Thai Massage training!

More photos

I will try to continue to post photos on Picasa if you want to see more

http://picasaweb.google.com/anniegrimes13/Bangkok#

Exploring Bangkok

I saw a friendly political march today and the people there were more friendly there then I've seen my whole time here. A woman working took me around and tried to explain the politics of it all but I couldn't really understand. It was nice to see some smiling faces though.
Then a waterfall fell from the sky. It was so refreshing, I walked back to Shanti for 20 min in it!








Yesterday I rode a ferry to see the Grand Palace and surrounding temples. Sooooo much real gold!


















Thursday I went to MBK to find a Thai cell phone. This pace wasn't a shopping mall, it was a ten story shopping city! Gotta love the hot pink taxis too!


Sorry the photos are a litte bit messed up....haven't figured out how to organize them yet.

A quick hello from Shanti Lodge

Hey all...I finally made it to Bangkok after 24 straight of traveling.
It's ok that it was so long because it took me just about the whole flight to figure out what time it was when we left, how long the flight was, what the time change was, what time it will be when we land, what time it will be where we came from when we land and what time it was where we're going when we left! I think the answer was 12.

I have to admit, it's all taking some getting used to. I'm not sure whether the sun is rising or setting sometimes. But I didn't have to change my clock from Chicago time at all; it just says 6:30pm on Wednesday when it's actually 6:30 am on Thursday. HA! I have no idea what to do at daylight savings time.


So I'm staying at a sweet little hostel-type place in the Thewet neighborhood of northern Bangkok. It's really nice and clean. There's a vegetarian restaurant and most people here speak english. The best part is that it's covered with tropical plants! There are orchids in the showers....real ones. I hope to put pictures up soon!!!

TTFN